Discussion

Ceviche in Silver Spring

We finally tried Ceviche in Silver Spring last night after years of meaning to try it. In the end, we were pretty disappointed. Here's our review of dinner. For two people, we had:

1. Mixed ceviche (shrimp, calamari, fish) - The flavor was quite good, but possibly a little too sour. It was like lime juice soup with seafood. The dish was also really small for the price...a small bowl for $9.

2. Trio of empanadas - This was by far the biggest disapointment. First of all, they were not fresh, slightly cold, and the dough was maybe even stale. Then, the chorizo and cheese empanada was absolutely horrible. It was a few tiny pieces of minced chorizo with what tasted like dried, over-baked chedder cheese (note that the menu states it comes with mozzerella, ricotta and caramelized onions). The chorizo and cheese were about 1/8" thick inside the pocket. Hopefully this was an off night and that they're usually not that bad. On the bright side, the fillings in both the beef and spinach empanadas were flavorful. Too bad they were cold.

3. Chicharron - The crispy pork came on a bed of mote corn. They looked very good, but the inside of the pork was dry. And, I personally think that if they give so much mote corn, they should at least season it.

4. Chicken aji - This dish was actually pretty good, although it reminded me of cheap stadiu m nacho cheese (not that that's a bad thing). The chicken was tender, and it came with crushed pecans on top that went well with the flavors in the sauce.

5. Pisco sour - The drink was all right, but pretty weak...maybe because it was during happy hour.

We decided not to get dessert since we were a little disappointed by the food. Overall, our bill came out to be around $40, so it wasn't expensive by any means. But, as other people have mentioned in the past, the portions are small.

Has anyone else had such a mediocre experience at Ceviche? We had thought it was fairly well regarded.

I'm also underwhelmed by Ceviche. If you look at the ownership (other properties) it seems to me that they are more interested in being a lounge than a restaurant. I was there a few weeks ago with a friend at happy hour. I also found the drinks very weak. My main complaint is that the entrees recycle the same ingredients over and over. I ordered a salmon dish and my friend ordered something else (memory fails for the name) and when the dishes showed up the salmon was basically her dish with a filet of fish on top. If you don't like quinoa you're screwed--it's in everything. It's really a pity too because Silver Spring doesn't have a space like it elsewhere.